EARLY MAN 



implements was discovered towards the end of the year 1897. This was a circular area about 

 14 ft. in diameter, and upon a careful examination of the ground being made nearly one thou- 

 sand pieces of flint were found, consisting of upwards of twenty cores, considerably more than 

 four hundred flakes, and a rather larger number of waste chips. All the cores were small, and 

 would not have been capable of producing flakes more than 3 in. long. The flakes, which are 

 in most cases straight, well made, and triangular in section, have generally lost their pointed 

 end consisting of about one-fourth or one-third part of the original length. About 40 per 

 cent, of the flakes had been broken in this way, and as the missing parts must have been sharp, 

 pointed, and more or less triangular in form, it is probable that they have been purposely 

 broken off and employed as arrow-heads or possibly as sickle-teeth, and thus dispersed over 

 the surrounding district. It is significant that not one of the pointed ends was found at 

 Millfield, although examples have been found by the present writer at Hayes Common. 



One of the interesting facts about this discovery is that it tends to establish beyond the 

 possibility of doubt the fact that the hut-circles on Hayes Common are of Neolithic Age. 

 Hitherto this had rested upon negative rather than positive evidence, but it is now fairly clear 

 that the Millfield factory forms one of the group of settlements at Hayes Common, and that 

 all the floors there may be referred to the Neolithic Age. 



Ightham. About thirty floors of dwellings, in every case associated with neolithic chips, 

 flakes, cores, and implements, have been discovered in this parish. 



The more important finds of neolithic implements will be noted 

 in the topographical list at the end of this article, but one or two 

 special features are worthy of notice here. 



The first is the discovery of a large number of neatly chipped 

 flint arrow-heads at Linton, a parish about 4 miles to the south of 

 Maidstone. No less than sixty-five examples of these objects, which 

 are usually very rare in Kent, are now in the Maidstone Museum. 



Another remarkable feature of the neolithic remains in Kent is 

 the comparative abundance of roughly chipped celt-like implements, 

 from 6 in. to 8 in. in length, and of considerable weight. Besides 

 the examples recorded by Sir John Evans from Shoreham and other 

 places, the present writer has found several objects of this character at 

 West Wickham. There seems good reason to believe that they were 

 hoes or somewhat analogous implements for agricultural purposes. 



An important class of remains of this interesting age are the 

 megalithic monuments associated with burials, and these will be dealt 

 with in the following section. 



Megalithic Remains 



All the megalithic remains of Kent are situated in the central part 

 of the county, in the neighbourhood of Maidstone. Precisely speaking, 

 the district in which they lie is bounded on the east by Boxley, and on 

 the west by Wrotham, the river Medway running through it. 



Though not remarkable numerically, these antiquities are of great 

 archasological importance. It is probable that they are all of sepulchral 

 origin, and in two cases the original characters have been sufficiently 

 retained to enable antiquaries to refer them without hesitation to the 

 Neolithic Age. The other megalithic structures, which have fallen, 

 were probably reared for a similar purpose, and there is reason to think 

 that the various members of the whole group belong practically to the 

 same period, and were constructed for sepulchral purposes. 



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